HR Horror Stories – citrusHR’s Halloween Special

It’s that time of year where the scary stories come out – whether around a bonfire or with a torch under your chin, you’re hoping to give your captive audience a fright!

Here at citrusHR our team have been telling some ‘HR Horror Stories’ suited to give any employer the chills this Halloween, and we thought we’d share them with you.

Mind Games

“Once I dealt with an employee that claimed to read their Chairman’s mind, and thought that the company’s plans for the future were seriously flawed!It all came to a head when they turned up at a meeting of senior directors and claimed to be a member of the board. They were cleared by an independent medical examination swiftly after, but a disciplinary warning was hot on its heels.”

A Poison Pen Letter

“An anonymous letter claimed an employee was taking time off for an illness that didn’t exist – and upon investigation it turned out to be true.What’s more, it turned out the letter had been written by the employee’s partner just to get them out of the house! They certainly regretted bringing them along to be their ‘support’ during the disciplinary hearing…”

Crying Wolf

“I once had a meeting with an employee accused of sexual harassment, which ended up with the ambulance being called to the scene after they ‘fainted’.It wasn’t all that surprising that the paramedics couldn’t find anything wrong – but they took them to the hospital anyway and had the whole building talking about us ‘horrible HR people’”

The Silent Employee

“I once worked with a company that had an employee off on long term sick leave, who refused all forms of communication other that written letters. By which I mean they refused to take phone calls of any kind and claimed they were harassment.When they decided to make a tribunal claim against the company, stating that we had not effectively communicated with them – I was pretty shocked!”

An Unfortunate Incident

“I attended a grievance meeting recently for a company where the meeting room I’d booked with the employee had lost its power, so we found ourselves a quiet corner of the warehouse.

The employee was complaining that everyone in the business was bullying her and had given her the nickname of witch behind her back, while circulating images of her in a grot-bags costume.

I looked up half way through as something caught my eye, and realised we had inadvertently sat in the area where fancy dress was stored. And hanging about her head… was a witch’s costume!

I’ve never wrapped up a meeting so quickly in my life, and pretty much frog-marched the employee away from the area in the hope that she wouldn’t turn round and think it had been set up!”

We hope we didn’t scare you too much with our tales of the macabre side of Human Resources – if you feel too scared to even attempt employing someone then why not get in touch with us to see how our team of HR experts can help you to get all the support you need?